Kaduna: UNICEF, media chiefs partner to curb out-of-school children menace

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has partnered with the Head of media organisations and Bureau Chiefs in Kaduna on the need to tackle the menace of out-of-school children syndrome and other factors affecting the growth of children in Northern Nigeria and by extension the country.

Declaring the one-day event open, UNICEF Cap specialist, Abuja office who represented the country director, Susan Akila noted that the Media has been their partner for decades.

She said, “UNICEF believes that their objectives will not be achieved without the Media. Thus, what we are doing now is not something new but rather to continue to solidify the already existing partnership.

Akila noted that the primary aim of the partnership this time is to see how the media and UNICEF will come together to see how the lives of our children and women will be improved by 2050.

“We in UNICEF are concerned about the rights of a child. Like their rights to education, their rights to better health, their rights to express themselves, and their rights to a better future.

“How will the lives of these millions of our children be impacted this is our major concern, she stressed.

Also speaking, Ibrahim Mohammed of the UNICEF Kaduna field office said the engagement was to create awareness about out-of-school children and what to do to arrest the situation.

He said the target of the meeting is to ensure that every child is enrolled in school as well as to ensure that those in school are retained.

He said children should have rights like birth registration, eradicating malnutrition as well as stunting.

In his remarks, the Director of Planning, Ministry of Education, Kaduna state, Salisu Lawal noted that even though the state had recorded a lot of success in tackling the menace of out-of-school children, there are some challenges still waiting to be addressed.

He noted that factors like refusing to send children to school, poverty, and non-completion of school among others are rendering progress, saying that the ministry is working hard to tackle these factors.

READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE